ARTICLES ABOUT AUSTRALIAN BY DATE - PAGE 3

By Morag MacKinnon PERTH (Reuters) - Some flights between Australia and southeast Asia and all domestic flights operating out of Darwin airport in the countryâs north were canceled on Saturday after the eruption of Sangeang Api in Indonesiaâs south produced a large cloud of ash. International flights to and from Australia to Singapore, East Timor and the Indonesian holiday island of Bali were among those cancelled, including those...

PARIS - Li Na, the Australian Open champion, followed her male counterpart Stanislas Wawrinka out of the French Open in the first round when she lost 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 to local favorite Kristina Mladenovic on Tuesday. The second seed from China, who won at Roland Garros in 2011, never hit her stride on court Suzanne Lenglen on another chilly day in Paris. Once dubbed the next big thing of French women's tennis, Mladenovic saved two set points in the opener, lost focus in the second but stepped up a gear again in the decider to wrap it up on her second match point.

PARIS (Reuters) - Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka was preparing for a period of deep introspection after a shock French Open first-round defeat against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Monday. The third-seeded Swiss, who has Samuel Beckett's 'Fail Better' quote tattooed on his left arm, did not look for excuses as he became the tournament's first major casualty, losing 6-4 5-7 6-2 6-0 to the world No.41 from Spain. "I need to put the puzzle back together, but differently than in the past, because now - after winning a grand slam, being No.3 in the world - everything is different, and I still didn't find all the pieces," he told reporters.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian lawmaker smuggled a replica explosive device into parliament on Monday to highlight security shortfalls created by budget cuts, in perhaps the oddest protest yet against the conservative government's controversial cost-cutting measures. Senator Bill Heffernan, a member of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's ruling Liberal Party, unveiled the long metal tube designed to look like a homemade "pipe bomb" during hearings attended by the head of the Australian Federal Police.

PERTH/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Former managers and staff at Liu Han's Australian operations were dumbfounded when the Chinese tycoon went on trial last month for leading a murderous, mafia-style gang. In 2009 when Liu, 48, launched a bid to take control of Moly Mines, executives then running the Perth-based company ordered background checks. Their findings could not have been more different: Liu was best known in China as a philanthropist in his native Sichuan province. One story stood out. Amid the devastation near the epicenter of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, a school Liu had helped build remained standing and all of its students had escaped unharmed.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Glencore Plc will close its Newlands underground coal mine in Australia in late 2015, opting not to extend the life of the mine amid a slump in coal prices, the Swiss-based mining and commodities group said on Thursday. Newlands is the latest victim in a round of production cuts, mine closures and project cancellations in Australia, with thermal coal prices stuck at 4-1/2-year lows and the Australian dollar remaining stubbornly high. The underground mine, which produced 2.75 million tons of thermal coal last year, will reach the end of its life in the fourth quarter of 2015, Glencore said.

(Reuters) - Australia's Adam Scott has surpassed Tiger Woods as the number one player on the official world golf rankings, seizing the top spot despite not playing this past week. Scott, who spent the past 38 weeks as the second ranked player, has had chances to overtake Woods through high tournament finishes but has instead done so with both players out of action. The updated rankings are released on Monday. Woods last played in March and is out indefinitely following back surgery, making his fall from the top inevitable.

By Thuy Ong SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian police fined billionaire gaming mogul James Packer and his friend, television executive David Gyngell, A$500 ($470) each on Friday after a wild street brawl in Sydney's world-famous beachside suburb of Bondi. Photographs of the fight between Crown Resorts Ltd Executive Chairman Packer and David Gyngell, chief executive of Nine Entertainment Group, last Sunday were published around the world. [ID:nL3N0NT27J] Packer was left with a black eye and media reported associates were instructed After the fight to look on the kerbside for lost teeth.